Pausing to Remember

Thinking of my Father today, he was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  Thank you to him and all veterans for their service to our country.

BBQ Spaghetti Casserole

Slow Cooker pulled pork is one of my go to meals, perfect for a Monday when I know I won't feel much like cooking when I get home.  We buy the large loins when they are on sale and have the butcher cut and wrap them into smaller ones, perfect for the freezer.  Even with the smaller loins, we still have lots of leftovers.  I am always looking for recipes using the leftover pulled pork.  

This BBQ Spaghetti Casserole caught my eye on Pinterest.  I've made BBQ Spaghetti before but never with the addition of pulled pork.  This is a delicious use for leftover pork just be sure to add enough BBQ sauce or it could be a little dry.

BBQ Spaghetti Casserole
Recipe Courtesy of Spicy Southern Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti, cooked until al dente
• 1 pound bbq pulled pork
• ⅔ cup of your favorite bbq sauce
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (I omitted this)
• ¼ cup sour cream (I used greek yogurt
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
• cilantro for garnish, optional
• additional bbq sauce for serving

Instructions

1. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine bbq sauce, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and sour cream. Stir well.
3. Add pasta, bbq pork, and green onions to bowl and toss to combine well.
4. Pour mixture into prepared casserole dish. Top with cheese, cover with aluminum foil. (spray foil with cooking spray so it will not stick to the cheese.) Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot all the way through.
5. Top with cilantro and drizzle a little additional bbq sauce on top.

Peanut Butter Truffles

November is a five Monday month, you know what that means?  We have a bonus Secret Recipe Club  post!  Whenever there's a five week month, we do a themed Secret Recipe Club reveal.  What could be more perfect for this time of year but Holiday Treats?  Yummy!  A reveal of nothing but holiday treats is the best!!

My assigned blogger is Cathleen of A Taste of Madness. As always I had fun browsing Cathleen's blog and had trouble choosing just one recipe.  I ended up choosing these amazing Peanut Butter Truffles.  They're delicious and easy to put together.  If you're looking for a food gift or something fun to take to a party, give these a try.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups pretzel pieces
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

Directions:

1. Put the pretzels into a large resealable plastic bag and crush into small bits using a rolling pan.
2. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter and brown sugar until fully combined. Add in the pretzel pieces and icing sugar, and mix until fully combined.
3. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Scoop around 2 tablespoons worth of peanut butter mixture, and gently shape into a ball with your fingers. Place the ball on the prepared cookie sheet, and repeat with the remaining peanut butter mixture. Place in the freezer for around 30 minutes.
4. Boil 5 cups of water and pour into a medium bowl.
5. Place the chocolate chips and shortening into a smaller bowl, and place it into the bowl full of water. Mix the chocolate chips and shortening until the mixture is smooth, making sure not to let the water mix in with the chocolate mixture.
6. Take the frozen balls out of the freezer and dip them in the chocolate mixture. Place the dipped peanut butter balls back on the waxed paper. Quickly sprinkle the peanut butter balls while the chocolate is still wet with some extra broken up pretzels.
7. In a microwave safe bowl, melt some peanut butter. Drizzle on top of truffles, and freeze until hard.

 

http://new.inlinkz.com/view.php?id=570564" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up

New Orleans BBQ Beer Shrimp

Tim and I have been brewing our own beer for about a year.  I regret not blogging about the process. Maybe in 2016?  It can be a little time consuming and a true test of team work.  Which in our cases is never a problem as long as Tim does it my way.   Ha!  Now that we have our system down, it's a fairly smooth process.  We've made a pumpkin ale, an IPA, a Hefeweizen a Lemon Coriander Weiss and a Holiday Ale.  Besides enjoying and sharing our beers, I love cooking with them.    This bbq beer shrimp is delicious, reminds me a little of good ole spiced shrimp with a kick.  I used our Lemon Coriander Weiss in this recipe.  Any mild or pale ale will work great.  I served this on top of rice with a loaf of crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce. 

New Orleans Barbecue Beer Shrimp

Recipe Courtesy of The Beeroness

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• ½ teaspoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
• 1 cup pale ale
• 1 pounds raw shrimp, deveined, shell on

Directions

• Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
• Add the remaining ingredients (besides the shrimp), bring to a simmer.
• Add the shrimp, cook until shrimp have turned pink. Avoid over cooking or the shrimp will be tough.
• Serve with crust bread to mop up all that beautiful sauce. And lots of napkins.

Loaded Sweet Potato Soup - SRC

For this month's Secret Recipe Club,  I was lucky enough to be assigned Debbie of Debbie Does Dinner Healthy.  Debbie is the hostess of Group C.  Thanks for all you do to make SRC a success.  I've been following Debbie's blog since I began blogging in 2009.  She has some great healthy and low cal recipes on her site!  Stop over and check them out.

I love potato soup but never thought about making sweet potato soup.  After making this recipe, I realized I've really been missing out. This soup is so good and the great thing is, it's healthy.  I did use the bacon, not a lot, but it really adds to the flavor.  I pureed the soup with my immersion blender, next time I will be using the blender instead.  It takes a while to puree this soup and the blender would be so much easier.

I love, love, love this soup.  One of the best soups I've made in a long time.  Thanks, Debbie for an amazing recipe, one I can't wait to make again soon!!!

 
Loaded Sweet Potato Soup 

Recipe courtesy of Debbie Does Dinner Healthy
1 large onion, diced
1 tbsp. bacon grease or oil
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 can broth (chicken or vegetable)
7 - 8 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Pepperjack or extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Sour cream
Bacon (if desired and not vegetarian)

Saute desired amount of bacon. Save bacon grease for sauteeing. 

Add onion, bacon grease, salt and pepper to hot large pan and saute until tender.  Add garlic, thyme, chili powder and cinnamon, cook for a couple of minutes.  Add sweet potatoes, broth, vinegar and about 3 cups of water.  Season with more salt and lots of pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes.  When potatoes are tender, puree with an immersion blender or carefully add to a food processor.

Garnish with cheese, sour cream and bacon. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Beef Green Chili Cornbread Skillet

When I saw this recipe on my blogging pal Renee's blog,  I knew it was a recipe I wanted to try.  If you haven't been to Renee's blog, Cheery Kitchen, you should check it out.  She and I have been blogging buddies for four or five years.  Renee has the best recipes and beautiful photos!

I used my favorite hatch chile's for the green chili's in this recipe.  They were a delicious addition to an already terrific recipe.  I also had corn in the freezer from extra ears of corn on the cob.  My husband said "oh this is good, I'd have this again!"  A true compliment!  Renee, thanks for a great addition to my recipe box.

Beef Green Chile Cornbread Skillet

Recipe Courtesy of Cheery Kitchen

Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cups green enchilada sauce (I used red)
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles (I used Hatch Chile's)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can pink beans, drained (I left these out)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced
• 1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
• 1 (8.5-ounce) box cornbread mix, (I used Jiffy)
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup milk
• 8 ounces cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Over medium high heat in a large skillet, brown beef and onion together. Drain fat and return to pan.
3. Add green chile sauce, cumin, salt and pepper, green chiles, beans, olives and corn and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Mix cornbread mix with egg and milk and pour over top of beef and vegetables.
5. Place skillet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake for 10 more minutes.
7. Remove from oven and serve.
8. Garnish with sour cream, guacamole, and tomato chunks if desired.

Forever Royal!

 It's been 30 years since my home town celebrated a World Series win.  Over those 30 years, there were many where few people went to games and few watched on TV.  My how times have changed, over the past few years,  The Kansas City Royals drafted a talented group of players.  These players have determination and heart like nothing I've ever seen.  Their determination, talent and heart payed off just after midnight last night when they were crowned the 2015 World Series Champions!

Lucky enough to see these guys in Surprise this year during Spring Training, I was ready for a fun season.  From the beginning I felt they could Take The Crown!  162 regular games and 16 post season games,  I've watched all but a few!  Another come from behind victory last night, these guys never gave up!!

Can't wait for the 2016 season, how many days to opening day?!!